Core for closure frame trim elements



CORE FOR CLOSURE FRAME TRIM ELEMENTS Filed Oct. 28, 1947 Fig.4 a

Patented Aug. 16, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CORE FOR CLOSURE FRAME TRIM ELEMENTS Oliver B. Merrill, Amesbury, Mass.

Application October 28, 1947, Serial No. 782,561

4 Claims. (01. 20-69) This invention relates to trim elements for closure frames, such as those of automobile doors, windows and the like, which elements cooperate with the closures for the frames, and more par? ticularly it relates to the core of such an element which carries or is covered by suitable soft material which makes direct contact with the closure and which also may support ornamental finish elements.

Such a core may be made of flexible but not limp sheet material, such as thin soft metal, and it should be possible to bend it to suit curved portions of the openings to which it is applied without distortion of its general shape although a considerable area may be disposed in the plane of the bend. An example is a weather strip for application to a portion of the door frame which faces the window glass and closes the joint between .the two, such as herein'illustrated, and

which, if applied to a window opening having a partially curved boundary, must be curved to that boundary in. the plane of its width. 7 An important feature of the present construction is that-the portion of the core which is ofextendcd area and which in use may be required to be bent in its own plane is essentially, although not literally, smooth, flat, and continuous. In the case of a weather strip'this permits the strip to be secured by staples driven through such portion without danger of either improper clinching of the staples or mispositioning of the same which are likely to occur where the portion of-the strip through which the staples are driven is either discontinuous or irregular in surface as in certain known constructions which are similar in the sense that they may be bent in their own plane, a construction having that capacity not being broadly new.

As I anticipate a major field for the application of the invention to be in the production of weather strip such as that which is applied along the belt line of an automobile door to cooperate with the sliding glass, I have here illustrated the construction of such a strip in the accompanying drawing by way of example and will describe it in detail in the following specification In the drawing:

' Fig; 1' is an elevation of a length of weather strip with a portion bent to curvilinear form'in its plane, with parts successively broken awayto reveal the construction of the core and with certain portions of the latter bent outwardly at the lower portion of the figure;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line '2-2 of Fig. 1 on a larger scale;

. tongues.

brasures.

. 2 are carried thereby in the completed weathe strip omitted. 1

The point of view in Figs. 3 and 5 is from the back of Fig. 1 or as if looking downwardly in Fig. 2 toward the bottom of the sheet.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4 a strip of suitable metal (in practice about .015 inch thick) is cut out to form the blank shown, which is suitable for forming a structure of the type illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 which has only a single substantially plane portion. The blank has a continuous portion 3 along one side audits main body portion between its margins is divided by a series of linear cuts extending from the other sideto said portion to define a series of tongues l5 separated by the cuts l1. 7 I herein use the expression linear cut to express the idea that the tongues are separated substantially by a simple line of discontinuity as distinguished from a crenelated construction having substantial bodies of metal stamped out toprovide relatively widely spaced The cuts 11 are slits rather than em- The edges of'tongues l5 along at least one side of the respective slits l! are deflected out of the plane of the body portion, conveniently during the cutting operation, these deflected portions being marked l5d on the drawing and being best seen in Fig. 4, the amount of ofi-setting being only slightly more than the thickness of the metal, so that the end surfaces of the edges are out of alignment relative to the general plane of the Fig. 3 is a plan of the blank from which the a tongues but substantially tangent toa plane perpendicular thereto through the line of out which defines the tongues, such perpendicular plane being indicated by the line a-a in Fig. 4. Herein the ends of the tongues i5 are reduced in width to form subsidiary terminal tongues IQ for a purpose to be described,

The construction of the complete weather strip, the core of which is'formed from the blank de. scribed and illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 may be best understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 2. The continuous marginal portion I3 is rolled up to form a bead 13b providing an overhanging edge facing the body 'of the strip which may clamp there against one margin of a cushion herein provided by a piece of pile fabric Zl enclosing a core or stulimg 23. The terminal tongues I! may be folded over similarly to clamp the opposite edge of the cushioning strip and in their folded, or as shown rolled over, form are designated in the drawing by the numeral l9r. Conveniently the cross section'of "such rolled over tongues I9r is substantially centered relatively to the body of the strip as seen in Fig. 2 and they may fit within and support a finish bead 25 of split tubular form, usually of ornamental metal as for instance of'stainless steel. In the use of the weather strip constructed 3 with a core as described the bead l3b may bend to a curve as illustrated in Fig. 1 just as a wire of similar cross section could be bent. The finishing bead 25, when used, similarly bends and the rolled over tongues i9? slide within the same. The wide central portion of the core between the bead 13b and the opposite margin herein defined by the finish bead 25, if of one integral piece, would be substantially inflexible.

However, the lateral portions of the tongues may ride one over the other to permit the side at the right in Fig. l to occupy a shorter dimension at the inner side of the curve. This action is permitted and facilitated by the deflected edge portions 15d.

As is illustrated by the lower portion of Fig. 1, the main body of the weather strip core is for practical purposes flat, smooth, and continuous. One outstanding advantage is that such a surface is well suited for receiving staples.

It will be understood that in manufacture a strip of metal may be advanced longitudinally past several operating stations at which various bending operations and the application of cushioning elements to be supported by the core are effected in suitable order so that at the end of the advance the trimmed strip is complete as illustrated at the upper portion of Fig. 1 and in Fig. 2. That is, Fig. 5 may be considered as a view of the core shelled out from the completed structure and not in practice a construction existing independently in the form shown.

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof,

and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and, not restrictive, as is in fact clear in several matters from the description itself. Reference is to be had to the appended claims to indicate those principles of the invention exemplified by the particular embodiment described and which I desire to secure by Letters Patent.

I claim:

1. A core for a trim element which is mounted on a closure frame and adapted to cooperate with a portion of the closure for the frame, which core comprises an elongated strip of material of substantial width lying substantially in a plane but capable of being bent curvilinearly in that plane, the strip formed of sheet material and comprising a substantially continuous portion along one side, the body of the strip being divided by linear cuts extending from the other side to said portion to provide a series of tongues extending from said portion, the major portion of the surfaces of each of which all lie in the same plane, at least one of the adjacent edges of adjacent tongues being deflected to dispose the end surfaces of said edges out of alignment relative to the said general plane of the tongues but substantially tangent to a plane perpendicular thereto through the line of cut defining the tongues.

2. A core for a trim element which is mounted on a closure frame and adapted to cooperate with a portion of the closure for the frame, which core comprises an elongated strip of material of substantial width lying substantially in a plane but capable of being bent curvilinearly in that plane, the strip formed of sheet material and comprising a substantially continuous portion along one side, the body of the strip being divided by linear cuts extending from the otherside to said portion to provide a series of tongues exthereto through the line of cut defining the tongues, the ends of the tongues at the other side being reduced in width and shaped for sliding engagement with the interior of a finish bead of split tubular form.

3. A core for a trim element which is mounted on a closure frame and adapted to cooperate with a portion of the closure for the frame, which core comprises an elongated strip of material of substantial width lying substantially in a plane but capable of being bent curvilinearly in that plane, the strip formed of sheet material and comprising a substantially continuous portion along one side, which portion is rolled into a flexible longitudinal bead with an overhanging edge for clamping a margin of a cushioning element, the body of the strip being divided by linear cuts extending from the other side to said portion to provide a series of tongues extending from said portion, the major portion of the surfaces of each of which all he in the same plane, at least one of the adjacent edges of adjacent tongues being deflected to dispose the end surfaces of said edges out of alignment relative to the said general plane of the tongues but substantially tangent to a plane perpendicular thereto through the line of cut defining the tongues, the ends of the tongues being reduced in width and turned over to provide for clamping another margin of the cushioning element at spaced points therealong.

4. A core for a trim element which is mounted on a closure frame and adapted to cooperate with a portion of the closure for the frame, which core comprises an elongated strip of material of substantial width lying substantially in a plane but capable of being bent curvilinearly in that plane, the strip formed of sheet material and comprising a substantially continuous portion along one side, which portion is rolled into a flexible longitudinal bead with an overhanging edge for clamping a margin of a cushioning element, the body of the strip being divided by linear cuts extending from the other side to said portion to provide a series of tongues extending from said portion, the major portion of the surfaces of each of which all lie in the same plane,

, at least one of the adjacent edges of adjacent tongues being deflected to dispose the end surfaces of said edges out of alignment relative to the said general plane of the tongues but substantially tangent to a plane perpendicular thereto through the line of cut defining the tongues, the ends of the tongues being reduced in width and rolled over as longitudinally spaced enlargements having overhanging edges for clamping another margin of the cushioning element and adapted to fit within and support a finish bead of split tubular form.

OLIVER B. MERRILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name I Date Bailey Dec. 5, 1939 Number 

